The Washington critic., 1887-04-29

graphical Union at meeting held In
this city on the I'd of April, 1887:
SIR: At meeting of Columbia Typorraph.
ical un!on held at st. IoseYhs Hall, satur'
day, April :, 1885,, the following resolution was
adopted;
R,scir,d, That every employer having an
excess OF apprentices be nutlnc'i that he can
not engage another apprentice until the mum
her has been reduced tn the quota allowed by
the laws OF the n ON,
The above resolution. In the form of
circular letter, officially signed by
thcs,cretaty Of the Union aud bellinG
its seal, was received ot this ollre
day or two ago, addressed to the prc,i.
dent of TnE Cugl, Publishing Com.
pany. II giv's him 10 understand in
the plaincst possible terms that the
business of this company must be con.
Quoted upon such basis rs the Colum.
Lia Typographical Uaion may see fl
to prescribe. II reads something like
an order from the Comite Generate
during the days Of the Commune ia
Paris.
The dictatorlal tone Of the c)nmuui.
cation, as well as the subject matter
thereof suggests the inquiry at once,
as TO whether. under such n self.c0n.
stituted despotism, an employer in this
country has any rights at all which he
can call exclusively his own, or
whether that which he considers his
property, by reason of having honestly
made 1t, doesn't really belong to some.
body else. His title to It is good in
law, he pays taxes on It, he Is pre-.
sumed to have the sole control of 1t.
But this is mistake.
1t Is a mistake that he lives In free
country, so long as the direction of
his business is subjected In any way to
the tyrannlcal caprices of an outside
and wholly irresponsible organization.
But this is not the point to which we
would direct attention just now.
Whether we had more or less ap.
prentices than the flaws Of the Union
allow" we had no idea, until the re-
ceipt of the late orders, never having
ventured to put an apprentice on or
take any OF, This Is matter regu.
lated by the foreman, and a proprietor
has no more authority in the premises
than his janitor. The rule is that every
newspaper office employing seven men
or more is entitled to four apprentices.
THE CRITIC office, however, un.
der the new rule, will virtually
have but half that number, mas.
much as the two young men who look
after the "galleys" and hold copy"
though classified as apprentices, cannot
he admitted into the Union until they
have served four years at the Case
that Is, type setting.
A II str!ctiyc policy Of exclusion
and inhibition prevails where there
should be broad and generous en-.
Couragement to boys who want to learn
the art pte;ervative of all other arts.
And now may we not be permitted
TO ask, whence the supply of skilled
workmen in the various trades Is
TO come If the number Is to be arbi.
many huiiaSh " po"ti libih "uiCu
there is no appeal and against which
employers have no redress?
1t is obvious to every one who has
taken the trouble to investigate this
subject that the proportion of foreign
born citizens employed in the various
trades is steadily increasing, while the
rigorous regulations in regard to ap-
prentices are having the effect to drive
American youth into other and often
less honorable pursuits. There is no
gainsaying this fact. The trades
unions for some ineXplicable reason,
apparently prefer to fill up their ranks
with foreign labor. They are hostile
10 the interests of the boys who are
growing up abound them, and who,
instead of being given chance to be-
come artisans, self.respecting and re-
spected, are forced out of the lines of
industrial progress.
The Unions not only put up the bars
against apprentices, but they do not
even encourage the establishment of
trade schools. Says George t. McNeill,
late Labor candidate for Mayor of Bos-
ton, in his admirable history Of the
Labor Movement
By founding such Fl, hOo's themselves, our
Unions would seuurr ile cuntEo. of the supply
for lEelr several trades, and thus would win
apowei fer superior tu that which they now
possess. There are, however, very few nll-
cations that workngmGn are awakening 70
The Importance OF such action.
The little that is done In this
direction seems TO be done with
the express purpose of stimulating
foreign immigration as a source
of supply and leaving our bright Amer.
lean boys to shift for themselves.
There is neither wisdom nor justice
in such policy, and the industrial In.
teIests of the United States are even
now suffering the evil effects of a sys.
TEN so inconsistent with American
ideas and sound common sense.
WE BEG Senator Shcrman's pardon
for suggesting that he go into the Ohio
war and make soldiers record. He
has record already, though It doesn't
appear in the Congressional Directory.
lie went into the field In 1861 as a
volunteer aid on the staff of General
Robert Patterson and saw several
weeks service. In September of the
same year he was commissioned as a
colonel by Governor Dennison, with
authority to raise two infantry regi-
ments, a light battery and squadron
of cavalry, and the result was brigade
known as Sherman's brigade, with